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Dear Pat: We had a most delicious rice dish at Pavani Express called bisi bele bhath. I'd love to make it. Can you help, please?

Sheila

Dear Sheila: Welcome to the wondrous world of South Indian cookery. This magnificent vegetarian dish called bisi bele bhath is complex and uses many ingredients, but if you're game enough to try, you'll be amply rewarded. It is one of many rice specialties served at Pavani Express, an Indian vegetarian café where chef Narayan Reddy prepares the South Indian cuisine, including this dish, while chef Joseph Kalathara prepares the northern dishes.

Bisi bele bhath is a traditional dish from the South Indian state of Karnataka. Essentially, it's a dish of rice (bhath), mixed with lentils or dal (bele), spiced with “masala” — a blend of spices and seasonings. (Bisi means hot temperature in the Kannada language.) Bisi bele bhath is a one-dish meal, often served with chips and tomato raita, the refreshing yogurt-based accompaniment. Today it has become a popular dish because it's easy to carry to picnics and buffet dinners. The combination of rice and legumes (lentils, beans and peas) provides a rich, inexpensive protein for Indians, especially the many vegetarians.

You can go about preparing this dish in two ways. If you'd prefer to skip preparing the masala, you can purchase a packaged mix — the popular MTR Bisi Bele Bhath powder. It, along with all of the other ingredients, even the vegetables, are easily found at India Store, conveniently located a couple of doors down from Pavani. Either way is acceptable. The whole spices and dal keep well for at least a year in a cool dry cupboard.

Of course, there are as many versions of this dish as there are cooks who prepare it, but chef Reddy's version is outstanding. He boils the various vegetables and adds them to the dal/rice mixture. He garnishes the dish with a tantalizing mix of ghee (Indian clarified butter), mustard and cumin seeds, fresh curry leaves and cilantro. (Some cooks include cinnamon, cloves and grated coconut in the mix and fry the onions, along with cashews, to top the final dish.)

If you prepare the masala yourself, it's interesting to note that two types of dal (chana dal and urad dal) are used as spices. They add flavor and crunch to the dish. The other two (toor dal and moong beans) constitute the dal portion of the dish. Cooking the whole spices in hot oil releases their aroma and makes them more digestible. It's essential to have all the ingredients at the ready and lined up at the side of the stovetop before you begin cooking. The masala can be made first and set aside.

This recipe makes a large amount, but the dish reheats well, so I suggest you make the full recipe. The next day, you can take a holiday from cooking. Then again, you can drop by Pavani and enjoy this and other excellent dishes whenever the mood strikes.

Pavani Express is at 5755 Evers Road at Wurzbach Road.

Pat Mozersky is a freelance writer for the Express-News. Contact her at chefssecrets.pm@gmail.com.